The core argument of the article is that Engels in his late thought dealing with Marx’s critique of political economy developed an approach to theory of bourgeois capitalist society, Within this society, on the one hand, the money and its accumulation through capital has a constitutive role of social formation and intrinsic function of creating political power. On the other hand, this theory develops rational value aspect of bourgeois law. Engels avoids the monism of Marx’s The Capital by analyzing systemic relationship between capitalist market and state administration from the beginning of modern age to his own time and noticing a progress in this relationship. Author maintains that, despite the fragmented character of Engels’s theory, it shows a connection with Weber’s theory of money and his understanding of modern process of rationalization. Author develops his thesis by contrasting Engels’s approach to that of Marx and later development of these themes in works of Lukács, Horkheimer, Adorna and Habermasa.

Osnovna teza članka glasi da je kasni Engels u razračunavanju s Marxovom kritikom političke ekonomije razvio pristup za teoriju građansko-kapitalističkog društva, unutar kojega je s jedne strane novcu, odnosno njegovoj akumulaciji u kapitalu, u potpunosti pridan konstitutivni značaj za tu društvenu formaciju, a time i intrinzična funkcija u duhu politike moći, a s druge strane u obzir uzet vrijednosno-racionalni aspekt građanskoga prava. Engels izbjegava monizam Marxova Kapitala tako da analizira sistemsku isprepletenost kapitalističkog tržišta s državnom administracijom od početka novoga vijeka do svojega vremena te pritom konstatira normativan napredak. Autorova je teza da njegova pojašnjenja unatoč svom fragmentarnom karakteru pokazuju dalekosežne veze s Weberovom teorijom novca i njegovim razumijevanjem modernog procesa racionalizacije. Autor izlaže svoju tezu kroz kontrast Engelsovog nasuprot Marxovu pristupu, te kasnijem razvoju ovih tema u radovima Lukácsa, Horkheimera, Adorna i Habermasa.